Liquid-Liquid Microextraction of Haloacetic Acids in Drinking Water

Researchers from the University of Córdoba (Córdoba, Spain) studied the use of simultaneous liquid-liquid microextraction and methylation along with headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to determine nine haloacetic acids in drinking water. They methylated the haloacetic acids in a two-phase n-pentane–water system with tetrabutylammonium salt as the phase transfer catalyst. Dimethylsulfate derivatization was accomplished in 3 min with shaking at room temperature. The method provided detection limits of 0.02–0.4 µg/L.